Dispensing valve



Jan. 8, 1946. w. P. HURLBURT v 2,392,741

DISPENSING VALVE I Filed Oct. 21, 1945 INVENTOR. 32 z fwl:

Patented Jan. 8, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT Wilbur atrium, so-11th orange, J.

Application October '21, 1943, Serial No. 507,0:"12 ifciaiins'. (014277-46) My invention relates to a dispensing valve, operated by a solenoid and designed to provide for adiminishe'd flow of material where a diminished iioW- of a predetermined volume is desired and to avoid the shock incident to a sudden interruption of a flow of liquid or other material.

My valve is particularly adapted for use with automatically operatedli'quid dispensing and measuring, as well as packaging devices, where speed and accuracy in dispensing or packaging are important factors. A common practice in such devices has been to employ two solenoid operated valves; one or full pipe size for full and rapid delivery of the main bulk of the material,

to be measured and-one of much smaller Size for accurately delivering the final amount or increment. This construction involved more complicated and more expensive arrangement of piping than was desirable.

My invention comprises a very desirable combination of two valves contained in one body or casing having an inlet and outlet operated by a single solenoid. I have preferably shown my valve operated by aso'len'oid of the packless type, but it is apparent that it can readily be adapted for use with the ordinary commercial form ofopen solenoid if the valve is provided with a slidingstem stuifing box,

Referring to the drawing Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view with parts of the solenoid broken away. Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the lines 2-2 of Figure 1. Like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the views.

Referring to Figure 1, the valve body is formed with an inlet and outlet so arranged that the now is from A to B. The body of the valve is provided with a main port 2 and there is mounted within said body a reciprocatory holder 3 (Fig. 2) preferably of cylindrical form, a disk or valve 4 forming a part of or attached to the holder 3. The holder 3 has a chamber 5 of cylinder form. It is provided with an auxiliary port 6 and there is slidingly mounted therein a piston I, having formed thereon or attached thereto auxiliary valve member 8, and is further provided with a valve or disk 9 which is loosely mounted on valve stem II and acts normally to close the orifices ID, the operating stem H being attached to piston 1 and the solenoid core l2. A spring l3 acts to retract holder 3 and valve 4 to close the main port 2, when the solenoid is de-energized.

The operation is as follows:

When the coil M of thesolenoid, which is preferably of the packless type, but can be of the open type, is deenergized, the parts of the device are in the position shown in Figure 1 and the main port 2 and the auxiliary port 6 are closed. When the solenoid coil is energized, the movable core [2 is drawn upwardly towards the fixed core l5, carrying with-it the stem H and piston 1 at tach-ed thereto, "thereby "opening auxiliary port 6. During'th is first or initial movement of the piston within the diskor "valve holder; said holder 3 (Fig. 2) remains momentarily in its original or initial position rnai taining the closure of main port 2. Any fluid in chamber 5, which entered through ports 1'6 and between the piston fl and chamber. wall, and is present in chamber 5, w-ill be forced by piston 1 through orifices, arranged about the top wall of the cylindrical holder, the disk 9 being raised sufficiently to permit such a flow of the liquid through orifices Hi to the outside of holder 3, thereby causing the liquid thereafter to assist in normally holding the main valve 2 onits seat. The continued movement of. piston 1 brings it into contact with the inside wall of the top ofthedisk holder and causes diskholder with its attached valve 4 to open up the main port 2 and thereafter the holder picks up disk or washer 9, thereby preventing the return flow of said liquid into the chamber 5. The final movement of piston and disk holder against tension of main spring l3 lifts main valve 4 from port 2 permitting a full discharge of liquid through main and auxiliary port. The initial and final movement upward of piston I follow in quick succession. The guides shown on Fig. 1 are to insure a concentric sealing of disk 4. 1

When coil I4 is de-energized, the core l2, stem ll, disk holder 3 and main valve or disk 4 are retracted by gravity and spring l3, as a unit, to the initial position of holder, the valve 4 closing main port 2, but the piston 1 retains its relative position to disk holder, remaining in the extreme upper position within the holder due to the absence of liquid in chamber 5 and during this interval of time the auxiliary port 6 remains open permitting a reduced or dribble flow of liquid from the inlet through port 6. Soon thereafter sufiicient fluid enters said chamber so that' the piston I is retracted by gravity and small spring l8, said piston dropping to its initial position closing the auxiliary port 6 and stopping the dribble flow of liquid, ending the discharge of liquid. The fluid above said disk holder assists in holding port 2 closed. The exact sequence of movement of piston and disk holder and timing thereof can be predetermined by the dimensions of port 6, clearance around stem H and that around disk holder and in this way the interval of time between the closing of the main port and the closing of the auxiliary port can be fixed and thereby the volumes of liquid discharged through port 2 and that through port 6 can be established. It is to be understood from the foregoing that the adjustment in the clearances and the dimensions of parts is for regulating the amount of leakage of the liquid into chamber 5, which leak- I age assists the spring I 8' and in that Way the timing of relative movement of chamber and piston is accomplished. With a valve provided with a body used with a liquid, such as water, hav

ing a pressure of 6 lbs. per sq. in. the water being discharged to atmosphere, the ports, passages and chambers were so proportioned that the main port or valve passed eleven and one-half '(11 /z) gallons member, valves for said ports, in combination with per minute, While the solenoid was energized;

and ports passed .115 gallon in 3 /2 seconds before the auxiliary port was completely closed. The

will not be more than .0022 gallon or 1.9%, and for accurate dispensing'of liquids this variationof 1.9% is well within the requirements.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of this'invention that others a can, by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for other types of dispensing valves by retain ing substantially the various characteristics of 7 parts of the generic or specific aspects of the invention and therefore such adaptations should be and are to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents. I

I claim as follows:

-1.' A dispensing valve for fluids having main,

and auxiliary actuatingmembers, a main port and an auxiliary port formed in the main actuating member, valves for said ports in combination'with an extensible chamber formed by the l 1 walls of said actuating members, said fluidentering said chamber during movement in one direction of the actuating member for said auxiliary After the solenoid was de-energized the'valves 20 maximum variation of the dribble flowpor trickle 1 valve and exhausted therefrom during its reverse an extensible fluid chamber formed by the walls of said actuating members, the said fluid passing into said chamber to assist in closing the auxiliary port a predetermined period of time after the closing of the main port, the fluid being exhausted from said chamber during the reverse movement of said auxiliary actuating member.

' 3. In a dispensing valve for predetermining the amount of a major and minor flow of fluid consisting of a casing, a main port and an auxiliary port, valves for said ports, in combination with a reciprocatory member forming a chamberconnected to one of said, valves; a piston movable within said chamber forming a closure for same, said piston being connected to the other valve and being initially elevated to lift said valve and thereafter held in elevated position after the main port has been closed until a predetermined amount of leakage of said fluid has entered saidchamber.

4. A fluid dispensing valve comprising two reciprocatory members, onemember having a hol- 10w part and the other member movable therein, a main valve and an auxiliary valve,- means connectingone member to the main valve and the other member to the auxiliary valve, a fluid passage into said hollow part, in combination with a relief port means for automatically opening and closing said relief port by the movement of one of said reciprocatory members for regulating the fluid leakage into said hollow part, one of said reciprocatory members being positioned to permit a predetermined amount of fluid leakage without materially affecting the force required to open said auxiliary valve. 7 p 7 v WILBUR F. I-IURLBURT; 

